Milan Pradhan, the Congress candidate for the Nandigram Assembly bypoll in West Bengal’s East Midnapore district, has filed a petition with the Calcutta High Court. He is seeking interim protection from potential coercive police action related to five separate cases registered against him in 2007. Pradhan’s legal move comes amid ongoing scrutiny of his candidacy in the upcoming bypoll.
Pradhan arrested in 2007 murder case ahead of Nandigram bypoll
After filing the petition in the Calcutta High Court on Monday, Pradhan’s counsel, Ayan Bhattacharya, said there were apprehensions that his client could be shown as arrested in the five other old cases after already being taken into custody in one case. Pradhan was arrested last week in connection with an old murder case dating back to the anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram. His petition was admitted by a single-judge Bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya on Monday, with the first hearing scheduled for September 22. The Congress candidate was arrested from Chandipur in East Midnapore on the evening of September 18. Pradhan was arrested in an old murder case registered during the anti-land acquisition movement in 2007, when the state was under the Left Front government led by then Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, according to the police. On Saturday, the Haldia subdivision court sent Pradhan to 14 days’ judicial custody until October 3.
